Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

Oh boy. Tom Brady has gone and done it. During his weekly appearance on Boston's WEEI, the Patriots quarterback said that new (old) offensive assistant Josh McDaniels, who was hired over the weekend and began work immediately, "obviously has some inside information" on New England's opponent Saturday, the Denver Broncos.

On the surface, they're hardly inflammatory comments … except that some segments of the media have already questioned the hire for the very reasons Brady mentioned. The Denver Post's Mike Klis writes Tuesday that "Once again, Belichick has found a loophole in the rulebook by hiring McDaniels as an offensive assistant coach the week before the Patriots play McDaniels' former team. And the NFL has plugged its ears and covered its eyes to a move that would seem to at least violate the spirit of fair competition."

“He obviously has some inside information on that team and those players, as he coached them. I haven’t seen Josh yet, so I really don’t know,” Brady said. “I think coach [Bill] Belichick has a pretty good idea of what he’s going to want Josh to do. I talked to Josh briefly but I really haven’t had a chance to sit down with him. He’s a great coach and we’re lucky to have him. I’m excited to get back to work with him. How that plays into this week, we’ll see. We’ll try to figure that out here in the next five or six days.”

But here's the thing: McDaniels got fired midway through the 2010 season for being pretty bad at his job. In '09, the Broncos started 6-0 before finishing 8-8. The next season, they went 4-12. And while Tebow was drafted on McDaniels' watch, the Broncos were still a season away from running the read option under John Fox.

Not only that, but the Patriots have already played -- and soundly beaten -- the Broncos this season without McDaniels' assistance. So whatever knowledge, inside or otherwise, McDaniels might possess, we can't imagine it will much affect the Pats' game plan.

"Belichick brought in Kid McCoach as an 'offensive assistant' just in time to interrogate him before the Patriots' rematch with the Broncos and 32 of McDaniels' players and nine assistant coaches from last season's team. The Broncos fired McDaniels on Dec. 6, 2010, because of failure as a coach (17 losses in McD's last 22 games), his poor player-people-press skills and, ultimately, the videotaping scandal that undid the franchise. …

"[McDaniels] can provide inside information and tendencies of players and coaches, especially the offensive coordinator he worked closely with, Mike McCoy. Some aspects of his old playbook passing offense were retained."

Yes, because the Patriots looked lost against the Pats in the Week 15 matchup they won 41-23. Tom Brady threw for 320 yards, tossed two touchdowns and ran for another. Tebow, meanwhile, was 11 of 22 for 194 yards with two rushing touchdowns and a lost fumble. We're quite certain that whatever insights McDaniels might have, occurred to Belichick and his coaching staff when they were preparing for the Broncos the first time.

Put differently: if McDaniels is so smart, he'd still be a head coach. Or at the very least, something more than the offensive coordinator for the league's worst unit.

Either way, Brady isn't so much concerned with what McDaniels may or may not know as he is with Denver's defense.

"Look, I’m thinking about Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil and Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey," he said. "They’ve got plenty of good players on defense for me to worry about. Just like last time, coach talks about doing your job. And there’s no better coaching point this week than for everyone to do their job, not only on the field but off the field, taking care of what you need to take care of so we can be at our best for the most important game of our season."

Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

Hate absolutely anything/everything associated with Boston & the New England region. Think Brady is every bit as "in-the-closet" as is Tom Cruise. Think the folks living in that region are the ugliest/most ignorant people in this country. Any other time I would be wishing everything on a Pats loss...but not this week.I realize its not Tebow's fault that ESPN is purposely devoting 16 hours per day to non-stop coverage/conversation about him, and he's truly an awesome human being, but c'mon already! The guy's setting the NFL back 50 years. Its an absolute joke that defensive coordinators making multi-millions per year are unable to come up with a strategy to stop this high school offense.Here's a wild & crazy idea for any & all defenses playing the Tebows: hit his a$$ on every single play as hard as possible. Take a few personal-foul penalties (its not as tho the Donkeys are capable of capitalizing). Make Tebow think about the inevitable hit every time he takes a snap. Assign a shadow linebacker on him & tell him he's cut from the team immediately if he does anything on the field other than shadow & hit Tebow all game long. By the 3rd quarter, he'll be so beaten down & shell-shcoked that he'sll feel a pass rush coming even on running plays. Pats 34, Tebows 16.

Since: Aug 10, 2011

Posted on: January 10, 2012 8:45 pm

Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

Let me just state for the record; I hate Josh McDaniels - enough said.

Since: Aug 23, 2010

Posted on: January 10, 2012 8:13 pm

Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

One man's trash is another man's treasure. Denver fired McDaniels and the Rams didn't have to let him go but they did. Our o.c. has taken the Penn State job and McDaniels is an obvious choice for the Pats. We didn't fire McDaniels he took a headcoaching job just like alot of other coordinators have done that were with the Patriots. That's what happens when you are a consistant winning team. Now you are trying to suggest that McDaniels was hired for the Denver game? No he was hired for the playoffs and longer. McDaniels could have stayed with the Patriots and still would have been the o.c. just as he will be next year.

Since: Feb 27, 2009

Posted on: January 10, 2012 7:38 pm

Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

relax. the only inside information mcdummy has is that the broncos are a better team without him.

Since: Apr 14, 2011

Posted on: January 10, 2012 6:22 pm

Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

I don't understand why this is a heated story. It's football, not rocket surgery. J. McDaniels is not releasing classified national security info such as where the WMD are or what really happened at Area 51. While the gamesmanship occurs between the ears, the game still has to be decided between the lines. The Broncos are being wise by not commenting on any of this. The Denver Post writer may have had to meet a deadline and this was an easy story to produce.

When the two teams last met, the Broncos lost their composure and turned the football over three times on three consecutive drives. As anyone will say, turning the football over is not a winning edge. The Patriots are the Patriots and what they do better than anyone is take advantatge of their opponent's mistakes.The Broncos have another shot at the Patriots. If they can keep their cool, not turn the football over and play their game, they have a chance. That is all anyone can ask for.

Since: Feb 25, 2010

Posted on: January 10, 2012 6:02 pm

Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

In addition, this is not the same Broncs team that the Pats played 4 weeks ago.

True. The old Broncos team was coming off a 7 game win streak. The new Broncos team has won 1 game in their last 4. Nope, not the same team.

Since: Sep 16, 2007

Posted on: January 10, 2012 5:48 pm

Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

We all know how the PATS operate! They can only win by CHEATING...we all know that!!!!

Hey Genius, how is this cheating?

(stop posting just for the sake of posting)

Since: Aug 1, 2010

Posted on: January 10, 2012 5:29 pm

Brady says McDaniels is "Soft like girl."

Sorry had to let that out, still a little bitter. Win or lose Saturday, Tebow or no Tebow next year. It was fun watching Bronco's football this year. Go Bronco's!!

Since: Feb 25, 2009

Posted on: January 10, 2012 5:29 pm

Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

Any damage McDaniels could have done he already did as a terrible coach that nearly ruined the Broncos. I wouldn't trust his "inside information" any further than I could chuck Rex Ryan.

Since: Feb 15, 2010

Posted on: January 10, 2012 5:23 pm

Brady says McDaniels has 'inside information'

We all know how the PATS operate! They can only win by CHEATING...we all know that!!!!